By Fel (aka James Galloway) Table of Contents Chapter 1

“I can imagine, Cybi,” Zaa noted. “How goes KERA’s recovery operation?”

“On schedule. All disaster recovery operations concerning KERA should be complete in nine hours, and the agency will stand down and allow the Dukal government to take over. Jason, the legal team sent you a report you have yet to read. They report that the treaty is fine from the Karinne perspective, but Dahnai’s legal experts have yet to sign off.”

“Ahh, okay,” Jason nodded. “Wonder why I didn’t get it. It’s not on my gestalt queue.”

“So I did. Guess that’s my fault,” he admitted. “Do me a favor and tell her to start forwarding reports again.”

Cybi nodded. “If you will excuse me, friends and guests, I still have much work to do. I will make a point of visiting with you tomorrow, Denmother, Denfather,” she told them.

“You are attending the conferences?” Grun asked.

Cybi nodded. “I am most curious to see how the rulers behave towards me when face to face,” she noted, almost playfully.

“They’ll think the same of you they did before, a pushy, annoyingly overbearing female that thinks she knows everything,” Jason said, which made Jyslin laughed.

Grun chuckled. “Cybi is most unlike the other CBIMs,” he noted to Zaa.

“She has been online longer than even the Karsa CBIM was, and much of that time has been under what was for her very trying circumstances,” she replied. “The many years have allowed her to evolve beyond her programming. It is the most convincing evidence that she is sentient, that she understands and engages in humor.”

“Anyone with half a brain can figure out she’s sentient after talking with her for ten minutes,” Jason injected.

Grun finished his juice and stood up. “Well, that’s enough serious discussion for me. That is Denmother’s job,” he said, giving her a playful smile. “Come, Rann. I would learn this art of building the castle of sand.”

“It’s not that hard,” Rann told him as they headed back towards the beach. Jason did not miss Zaa’s loving, fond look at the two of them as they went down the stairs.

“Sooooo,” Jason drawled, “are we going to hear the pitter patter of little Kimdori feet within the Hearth soon?”

Zaa gave him a tart look that made Jyslin burst into a splutter of giggles. “Do not add to the chorus trying to woo me to have another litter, Jason,” she ordered.

“Would I do that, Denmother?” he asked with exaggerated innocence.
Brista, 17 Kedaa, 4401, Orthodox Calendar

Wednesday, 9 June 2014, Terran Standard Calendar

Brista, 17 Kedaa, year 1327 of the 97^th Generation, Karinne Historical Reference Calendar

The White House, Karsa, Karis
It was both the same and different.

It was the same in that he saw these assorted people virtually every day. As a member of the Confederate Council, he was intimately familiar with both the faces and the personalities assembled on the dais in the outer conference room, assembled for a picture opportunity. But it was different in that they were all in the same room, and the rest of those bodies were now visible and asserting themselves. Jason and Dahnai stood in the center with Magran and the Grand Master in his hoverchair in front of and between them, with Grayhawk to Dahnai’s left and Zaa to Jason’s right, and with Secretary Kim to Zaa’s right. It wasn’t that it was some place of honor, it was because they were the smallest of the assembled rulers. Vizzie and Grizza, Assaba, Ba’mra’ei, Grran, and Sk’Vrae were behind them in the second row because they were all so much bigger, with The Leader of the Zagya, Hraga, standing at the extreme left side and Overseer Brayrak Kruu of the Moridon on the extreme right. As neutral observers of the council, they were added to the picture, but both of them were standing far enough away from the others that they made it clear that they weren’t part of it.

After several pictures were taken of the rulers in their regal finery—except for Zaa, who was wearing only her fur with its white triangle and band of station, they walked into the large and extravagantly decorated conference room for the business at hand. Their many aides and military advisors were already in the room, sitting at desks on tiers in front of the main area—the room was a converted Academy satellite classroom—each of them working on panels or portable computers to prepare information for the conference. Lorna and Myri sat together on the first row along with most of the staff officers from the Confederate Allied Military, both in their Class A’s rather than armor, but armored members of the Imperial Guard and the White House Guard stood at the two doorways into the room and at every tier, sharing space with Royal Guard military detachments from the Skaa and Urumi.

After everyone sat down, Cybi manifested in a hover behind Jason, and Dahnai got things going. Dahnai was technically hosting the conference, mainly because Jason and Dahnai had not yet signed the treaty separating the Karinnes from the Imperium. And as the host ruler, it was her privilege to speak first. “Alright, here we are,” she said in a casual voice. “First off, I’d like to thank Jason and his people for hosting us. They’re not exactly set up for it, but they’ve done a pretty good job so far. For one, I really enjoyed that bachi match last night. Your planetary league is pretty competitive, Jayce,” she smiled.

“I find my accommodations more than suitable. The bed is big enough, that’s all I really need,” Ba’mra’ei chuckled.

“The Karinnes have made us more than welcome,” Assaba agreed. “And it was a special honor to meet you in person, Lady Cybi,” he added, looking at the hologram.

“I fully understand. The Karinnes have the right to protect their most sensitive places, and we do understand that you are located in the most sensitive place of all,” he said with a nod.

After that, it came down to what felt like a longer, more annoying meeting of the Council, one where he was in formal robes and couldn’t wander around his office if the mood hit him. Cybi often put her hand on his shoulder whenever he started getting a little too fidgety. He sat through several presentations about the battle around Karis, showing more detailed video from it, then they got into the meat of the meeting, ship losses, repair schedules, and increasing the size of their combined fleet to deal with the coming Syndicate.

After a break for some refreshments about four hours into it, they started delving into the new material. Dellin took over the meeting at that point, bringing up a huge 3D hologram of Kosigi to demonstrate just how empty it was. “The command staff has put forth a schedule of shipbuilding that would get us to within twenty thousand combined line service ships in three years. This doesn’t match the Syndicate numbers, but given they’re technologically inferior to the Consortium and we beat them with a disadvantage, most of the command staff feels that we can hold our own against them,” he declared. “The plan we’ve compiled goes like this. We concentrate larger ship building at Kosigi; battleships, heavy cruisers, command ships. Because of its logistical advantages and the fact that it’s pressurized, we can build a large ship some twenty percent faster in Kosigi than at any other shipyard. We shift production at the other shipyards throughout the Confederation to building destroyers and cruisers, because those ships will have a tactical use in our overall battle plan, and building those size ships in space docks isn’t as difficult as the larger ships. Terra will act as the central supply point for the logistics of the overall operation, and the Confederate Allied Military will handle the logistics, making sure everyone has all the materials they need. This plan allows every empire in the Confederation to pool their shipbuilding resources, and the CAM will make sure everyone gets what they need and it’s where it’s supposed to be. As for large ship construction, we’ll have very little trouble expanding Kosigi to undertake the increased shipbuilding operation. We still have plenty of space. Each empire will need to allocate workers to the docks for their ships. We supply hosting and logistical support, but you build your own vessels,” he said. “Much as we’re already doing it.”

“We’ve already organized a schedule for INS shipbuilding in Kosigi,” Lorna declared. “Admiral Dellin has approved our plans, and we’re ready to move as soon as the Council gives authorization.”

“As have the Imperial Navy,” Skaa Admiral Frazzil announced.

“The Republic Navy also has their plans filed and awaiting authorization,” Republic High Admiral Vaark called from the second tier.

“We’re still working out our plans, since we’re still heavily invested in the reconstruction of Shio planets,” Shio Admiral Jarik Furystorm called.

“The Alliance Navy should have its plan ready by tomorrow morning,” Admiral Gi’ton’ba announced.

“The Jobodi would like to take advantage of this offer to begin construction on a more modern Navy,” Field Marshall Grran’s vocoder intoned as his fingers danced in front of him. “It is a point of shame to us that we are part of this body, yet our contributions thus far have been more words than deeds.”

“Have your naval planners send up an official request and a schedule, Field Marshall, and I’ll assign you some space inside Kosigi. You can take advantage of our logistics as much as the others. We’re all in this together, Field Marshall, and the Karinnes will do what they can to help,” Dellin answered.

“That brings up a point. We’re not devoting all our space inside Kosigi quite yet,” Jason called. “I get the feeling that we’re going to have a few more applications to this body in the next couple of months.”

“I wouldn’t bet you over that feeling,” Dahnai nodded. “The larger empires like the Verutans might not join, but the smaller ones, they might, if only just to get access to the Confederate infrastructure.”

“As long as they fight with us, they are welcome,” Sk’Vrae said simply.

After Dellin and the rest of the command staff worked through the plans to increase the individual elements that made up the Confederate Navy, including doing some cross-staffing, mainly bringing some Skaa from the picket forces up to help crew some ships in other empires on a temporary basis, give them some on-the-job training, Sk’Vrae finally brought up the important business. “As all here know, we are not done with the Consortium yet,” she said. “Karinne reports place some 900 enemy ships inside the nebula in the P quadrant, trapped inside and unable to escape due to interdiction. There is also the Imxi,” she said.

“Yes, the Imxi,” Dahnai said, tapping her fingertips together. “We have to decide what to do about them.”

“General Myri,” Jason called.

Myri stood up and stepped down into the main area as those in the tiers continued to observe and take notes for their leaders. “We have a battle plan in place to deal with the Consortium ships inside the nebula,” she said as a holo of the nebula appeared. “Since we have them trapped and they never received the communications explaining how to jump away from an interdictor, we can afford to wait until we have full operational readiness before we go take care of them.”

“What are they doing right now, General?” Ba’mra’ei asked.

“As of right now, they’re trying to salvage what’s left of their base inside the nebula, and repair the ships that were damaged in the KMS assault on their base,” she answered, bringing up the latest Kimdori surveillance pictures. “They don’t know that we’ve destroyed the rest of their fleet, as they’re in complete communications blackout. Since they’re trapped, they’re doing what they can to reinforce and fortify their position, most likely in the hopes that the rest of their fleet will rescue them. The KMS proved to them that the nebula is not impregnable,” she said with a little chuckle. The holo shifted to a map of the Imxi empire, and Lorna stood up.

“As for the Imxi, we’ve analyzed their capabilities after losing their fleet in the attack on Karis and determined that they’re effectively defenseless,” she started. “The Karinnes currently hold two Imxi systems, PR-88 and PR-106, one an agricultural planet and the other an industrial center. The Karinne presence there is as a blockade with a small ground presence, they haven’t actively taken over the systems, they’re simply preventing the Imxi from using their assets.”

“Exactly what are your troops doing, Jason?” Assaba asked.

“Over there? Mainly just sitting behind a hard shield and letting the Imxi do whatever they want, as long as they don’t try to launch any ships,” he replied.

Assaba chuckled. “Unusual.”

“We have no desire to conquer them, but we did have to deny those assets to their empire,” he replied, then he stood up and walked over to the holo beside Lorna. “But, the Brood Queen did bring up a point the other day that we’ve thought about. I know we have to do something about the Imxi, since they attacked the Confederation, and the empires within the Confederation are entitled to some material gain in recognition of the sacrifices they’ve made. I’ve had several discussions with my staff, and we’ve decided to offer all interested parties a treaty that would grant you right of passage through our outpost in the PR sector, PR-371, and you could use that right of passage to invade the Imxi’s empire.

“But this treaty does come with a few conditions,” he said. “Firstly and most importantly, the Confederate rulers have to decide before the first ship even leaves our sector exactly which empire gets which Imxi system,” he said. “I don’t want to see us fighting among ourselves over the Imxi systems. Secondly, this agreement is restricted only to the Imxi,” he said forcefully. “There are four other spacefaring civilizations in that sector which are just starting as we reckon things. They’d be utterly defenseless against a Confederate invasion. Part of this agreement will make it abundantly clear that no Confederate empire that signs the agreement will take any hostile actions against those four other civilizations, or any other civilization, for that matter. All of you need to remember the core tenet of the Karinnes, and that is that we will not, under any circumstances, impose our wills on another, nor will we allow the use of our assets or technology to grant others the ability to impose their wills either. Our neutrality is sacrosanct, and we will impose our neutrality on others when they in some way represent us. This is one of those times when it will be necessary. Without the Karinnes, you can’t get to the PR sector, and that means that we will be ultimately responsible if one of you attacks one of the peaceful neighbors of the Imxi. We absolutely will not permit that, under any circumstances.

“The Imxi declared war on us, so that makes them fair game for retaliation, invasion, even to be conquered in return,” he said firmly. “It’s not a violation of our oaths to allow them to get conquered, because they attacked us first. But the other civilizations on that side of the galaxy are hands off. You may make diplomatic contact with them and establish trade treaties with them, but you will not invade, attack, or in any way interfere with them. If you can agree to this stipulation, we are more than willing to grant you access to the PR sector and let you run wild all over the Imxi.”

“I love his colloquialisms,” Grayhawk chuckled, then he slapped his hands on the table. “I find nothing wrong with your conditions, Jason. I can’t make the ultimate decision, but I’m sure my government would agree to your conditions. They are more than fair, and adhere to your Karinne code of ethics. I’m sure that we can all sit down with a map of the Imxi systems and divide them up in a way that’s equitable to all parties, each one getting what they need.”

“Does this blanket protection clause apply to unclaimed systems in the PR sector?” Assaba asked.

“No,” Jason replied. “Well, sort of,” he amended. “If you find an uninhabited system and you want to claim it, then we have no problems with that. But if there’s a sentient species on a planet in that system, you leave them alone. You can claim everything else in the system, but you leave the inhabited planet alone. And to make it clear to everyone here, I define inhabited as being home to any sentient race or species capable of forming social groups and demonstrating at least basic intelligence, and their technological level has absolutely no impact on this classification,” he said sternly. “To use an example all here will understand, the Parri would be classified as a sentient species under this rule. I don’t care if it’s a series of primitive villages made up of mud and straw huts inhabited by creatures that use rocks tied to sticks as tools, that classifies that species as sentient, and as such they are hands off. If no such organized society exists on the planet, then yes, you can claim it. If there is, you can’t.”

“Again, adhering to the Karinne code of ethics,” Grayhawk nodded. “I again see nothing wrong with that stipulation.”

“I believe we can work with those restrictions,” Assaba noted. “Send me a draft of this right of passage agreement so I might look it over.”

“I haven’t had it drawn up yet, but you’ll all have a copy of it by tomorrow morning,” Jason replied. “I’ll also release Karinne surveys of the PR and PS sectors for your exploratory branches, so they can study them and identify unclaimed systems you might want to survey for possible colonization. And over there, the Karinnes will interdict every system that our allies in the Confederation formally claim and arrange Karinne transports to provide logistical support, for basic protection and defense of those remote outposts.”

They all looked somewhat enthusiastic about that.

“Just remember, all of you, that there’s a very real chance that we may lose our foothold in the PR sector when the second wave of the Consortium arrives,” he said strongly. “We have to assume that eventually, the Consortium is going to figure out a way to get around the interdictors, and that will leave anything we have in the P quadrant highly vulnerable. If you do this, you do so at your own risk. If the Consortium somehow threatens the Stargate or threatens to capture an interdictor, we will pull them, and anyone over there is going to be stuck over there. I want that made clear right here, right now, before we even start discussing what to do about the Imxi. It would also be best if nobody sends any technology over there we don’t want the Consortium to get their hands on. That’s how I do it at PR-371. The only thing there I wouldn’t want them to get is the Stargate itself and the interdictors protecting the system. Everything else we have there is nothing that the Consortium doesn’t have itself in one form or another. Most of it is stock Imperium technology right off the shelf.”

“Duly noted, Jason,” Vizzie said with a nod.

“If we have five years to prepare, I’m sure we can suitably fortify our territory in the PR sector,” Assaba stated, making it abundantly clear where his mind was on the matter. He was undoubtedly getting ready to haggle with Vizzie and Dahnai over the choice systems in the Imxi empire.

“I would add one suggestion,” the venerable Grand Master called in his thin voice. “The civilian citizens of the Imxi empire must be treated with dignity.”

“I agree with that,” Jason nodded. “That means no mass exterminations,” he said bluntly, not trying to look directly at Assaba…and Sk’Vrae, for that matter. Both of them were capable of it.

“That is not only wasteful, but counterproductive,” Sk’Vrae replied immediately. “Territory without workers only strains my own people.”

“Alright, now that we’ve got that all out of the way, put up a list of the Imxi systems with their resources and assets,” Dahnai said briskly, rubbing her hands together. “Let’s work out how we’re going to divide up their systems among us.”

And just like that, over the next six hours, the fate of the Imxi was sealed. The other members of the Confederation divvied up the systems of the Imxi empire, granting every full member except the Karinnes a portion of the territory. It nearly quadrupled the size of the Jobodi Empire, as they were granted two systems holding six viable planets, two of which were arctic planets that they’d find comfortable. The four large governments took the lion’s share of the systems, but the Shio and the Colonies were awarded systems that would significantly increase their access to much-needed resources. Jason was surprised that the Grand Master would claim systems that way, but he showed his wisdom by choosing the ones that would do his government the most good. He wasn’t interested in the Imxi people as much as access to farming and some mining, and he got what he needed. They paused for a meal as they worked out who got what, and after they returned, they finished allocating the systems and then put the command staff to the task of organizing the invasion and conquering of the Imxi Empire.

That would be a Confederate operation. Confederate military assets would assist the overall campaign, not each government taking its own ships and conquering its own awarded systems, but with two notable exceptions. Neither the KMS nor the Kimdori would directly assist in the taking of the Imxi empire. Both had well established ethical reasons not to participate, and the other members of the Confederate Council were willing to allow them to sit out the operation. They wouldn’t be needed, mainly because the Imxi were virtually defenseless. The Karinnes would give the Confederation the ability to reach the Imxi, no more, no less. To do more would violate the oaths Jason took when he took the throne of the house. Once those systems were Confederate systems, then the Karinnes could get more involved.

It was a bit of legal maneuvering around the edges of his oaths, but sometimes it was a fundamental necessity when one danced around murky ethical situations like that one.

Jason contributed little over the negotiations, because all he had to do was sign a series of treaties and let them have at it. The Karinnes would interdict the systems when it became necessary—it wasn’t necessary to interdict them any time soon, and once they annihilated the last of the Consortium fleet, there would be no reason to interdict them for some three years—and they’d draw up a plan to supply those systems when they were interdicted, using Karinne freighters to jump the interdiction effect to move supplies in and out. His conscious about the matter was clear, however. The Imxi had attacked them first, and as such, he didn’t have to leave them be. He wouldn’t conquer them himself, he had no interest in it, but giving the Imxi to his allies on a silver platter, letting them get something of value back in return for them defending Karis and protecting Cybi, well, that was more than fair.

After another short break, they returned to the table and Grran got them in order. “Very well, the dispensation of the Imxi is settled,” his vocoder intoned monotonously. “We await only the right of passage treaties from the Grand Duke Karinne, and we can put the invasion of the Imxi on the timetable. What is next on the agenda?”